Efforts by Cobb DOT to acquire right-of-way to begin long-planned improvements along Lower Roswell Road have hit a snag with some commercial property owners.
The department said it’s still negotiating, but will ask the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday to approve condemnation proceedings for six parcels of land at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center and across the road near the intersection of Johnson Ferry Road.
Those include properties housing a Bank of America branch, a McDonald’s, a medical building and a small strip retail building, as well as a Taco Bell.
In an agenda item (you can read it here), Cobb DOT said the condemnations are needed “to ensure project deadlines are met,” but didn’t indicate when those deadlines might be. The condemnations would be enacted “in the event negotiations are unsuccessful.”
The condemnations would include property for permanent rights-of-way as well as temporary construction easements.
It’s been more than a decade since Cobb DOT proposed traffic improvements at a busy intersection it says has a high number of vehicle crashes. 
The project, with an estimated cost of $9 million from the Cobb 2011 SPLOST, would add turn lanes, install a multi-use trail and make other improvements along Lower Roswell between Woodlawn Drive and Davidson Road.
The agenda item states that there is funding available for permanent right-of-way acquisitions for the six parcels, but doesn’t indicate a cost.
Until a few years ago, there wasn’t much public skepticism of the plan, although the county has been talking with business owners concerned about a proposed raised median affecting their businesses.
Cobb DOT maintains that the proposed raised median—which would prevent left turns out of Parkaire Landing onto Lower Roswell Road—would substantially reduce crashes (from a 2021 project fact sheet that hasn’t been publicly updated).
After some residents expressed opposition in 2022, Cobb DOT held a town hall meeting about the project at the East Cobb Library. Many of the objections were over the creation of bike and pedestrian lanes.
Additional public feedback prompted Cobb DOT to announce in late 2022 it would redesign the project, including removal of a planned bike path and expanding a multi-use trail to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists.
That redesign hasn’t been unveiled.
The specific parcels being sought for condemnation resolutions Tuesday include the following:
- Parcel 22 (4811 Lower Roswell Road; Papa John’s Pizza, My Emergency Dental, 101 Bagel Café) 5,097 square feet of right-of-way
- Parcel 24 (4819 Lower Roswell Road, McDonald’s): 4,924 square feet of right-of-way
- Parcel 25 (4851 Lower Roswell Road, Bank of America): 4,578 square feet of right-of-way
- Parcel 27 (4880 Lower Roswell Road, Parkaire Landing): 5,205 square feet of right-of-way
- Parcel 27T (4880 Lower Roswell Road, Taco Bell): 2,332 square feet of right-of-way
- Parcel 28 (4939 Lower Roswell Road, Parkaire Medical Center): 1,226 square feet of right-of-way
The commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta), and the full agenda can be found by clicking here.
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
Related:
- Cobb commissioners set 2024 referendum for transit sales tax
- East Cobb transit center, bus routes on Cobb Mobility SPLOST project list
- Cobb to distribute $4.5M in ARPA funds to child care centers
- Cobb commissioners drop pro-Israel resolution
- Cobb County Manager gets raise, contract extension
- New Cobb Elections director hired; will start in December
- Citizens skeptical of transit tax at East Cobb town hall
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